THE BOOK OF FATE #7 - August 1997

Signs
Credits: Keith Giffen (writer), Ron Wagner (penciler), Bill Reinhold (inker), Gaspar (letterer), Mike Danza (colorist)

Summary: Jared finds himself pursued by rats. He escapes by tricking them into falling several stories off a building. With Arnold away, Jared turns to his sister Vera for help explaining the phenomenon. She appears to be Jared’s ally, until she receives a mysterious phone call. Vera then pulls out a gun and shoots Jared in the back. Meanwhile, the other personifications of the Apocalypse discuss Pestilence’s actions, and Sentinel testifies to the Conclave that Jared has mystical possessions that are rightfully his.

I Love the ‘90s: Jared is uncomfortable using the internet. Vera tells him to just “point and click.”



Review: This is absurd and entertaining, as opposed to most of this series’ run, which has been absurd and irritatingly confusing. Using an army of literal rats as the manifestation of Pestilence is probably the cleverest use of the concept I’ve seen in comics, and of course Ron Wagner easily does the concept justice. That cover alone is enough reason to love Ron Wagner. How many books on the stands in August 1997 could grab your attention like this? Regarding the story, Giffen is setting up a handful of new storylines, and bringing back the Senator character from the previous arc. Now we know he’s some personification of the Apocalypse, information that for some reason couldn’t be conveyed during the previous month’s utterly pointless crossover. Oh, and Sentinel has turned against Fate, which according to the letters page, is apparently a tie-in with whatever books Alan Scott was appearing in at the time. I don’t have a lot of faith that any of this will have a coherent conclusion, but hopefully I can get something out of the story while enjoying the pretty pictures.